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Convicted rapists in an Irish prison are applying for asylum to avoid deportation at the end of their sentences, a Sunday Times investigation has revealed.
In at least two cases, criminals walked free after their release despite efforts to deport them. The Sunday Times understands that in both cases, the men, from Albania and Pakistan, told gardai that they would be applying for asylum in Ireland.
One senior security source described the situation as “utter madness”. The source said: “These are convicted rapists who have attacked women and have gone through our courts and our prison system. This is not what our asylum process is for and they are taking advantage of the system.”
Ireland has become a magnet for those seeking refugee status because the International Protection Office (IPO) in Dublin has only eight countries on its safe list. Some EU countries have several times that.
The Sunday Times has also learnt that some migrants who cross the border from Northern Ireland and are sent back by garda immigration officers simply get another bus or taxi to Dublin. Sources say the situation is similar at ferry ports.
The first of the two convicts, a 51-year-old from Albania, recently completed a six-year sentence for raping a woman in 2017. The man has lived in Ireland for more than 20 years and was due to be deported in February.
It is understood he applied for asylum status in the first two weeks of February, claiming that it was unsafe for him to return to his home country. Albania is listed as a designated safe country of origin.
The second man, a 42-year-old from Pakistan, recently completed a sentence of six and a half years for rape and was due to be deported in April. It is understood he applied for asylum at the end of March. The man has lived in Ireland for more than a decade.
John Lahart, a Fianna Fáil TD in Dublin and a deputy whip, said: “If they were convicted here of rape and sought asylum here I don’t think that’s appropriate. It doesn’t get much serious than being convicted of rape. What I’m really surprised and shocked at is that the system seems to be open to considering their asylum application given their conviction.”
In each case, gardai tried to serve deportation orders before the men’s scheduled release dates, but both said they were applying for asylum. The GNIB officers were forced to notify the governor of the prison who then informed the IPO. The two convicts said they would turn up for an official interview at the IPO on Mount Street.
Both men, who are on the sex offenders register, walked free on their release date and disappeared. The average processing time of asylum applications is approximately 18 months, meaning they are effectively free until then. Gardai could then only serve them with a deportation order if their applications were rejected.
After The Sunday Times alerted the IPO and the Department of Justice to the loophole in mid-April, a GNIB team, under laws allowing them to detain someone if they pose a threat to public safety and security, searched for the men and brought them before a judge.
Both men were jailed, but the Pakistani rapist later obtained a High Court bail and is free pending his claim for asylum. He must sign daily at a Garda station and be of good behaviour.
The Albanian man was detained but released soon afterwards in a suspected blunder by the authorities. After a second manhunt for him, the man said he was withdrawing his asylum application and would return home voluntarily.
GNIB officers accompanied him to Germany and from there he was watched or “shadowed” until he got on a flight to Albania.
One senior immigration officer said yesterday: “Both of these men would be walking about unmonitored had The Sunday Times not alerted authorities to the loophole. As it is, the Albanian eventually went back on his own free will, and the Pakistani rapist only got bail under the strictest of conditions.
“That said, both men made a mockery of the asylum process. Asylum is for genuine cases who are presumed to be at risk of persecution, torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. It’s not to give rapists a free run in our country for 18 months once they’ve been released from jail.”
The Department of Justice said it did not comment on individual cases.
It added that the IPO would examine any claim for international protection “on its own merits” and the “person’s character and conduct”, including any “criminal convictions amassed by the person, can be factored into the decision-making process”.
“The minister may refuse a refugee/subsidiary protection declaration, even if the IPO has recommended that a person is entitled to a refugee declaration, if that person is reasonably considered to be a danger to the security of the state or the community,” the department said.
Gardai said the international protection process was not a matter for the force. “[Sex offenders] are monitored and managed in the community, overseen by an assigned garda liaison,” it said.
Pa Daly, a Sinn Féin TD and the party’s justice spokesman, called for a review into the loophole. “That such individuals would be in a position to apply in such a cynical manner, when they are clearly not bona fide refugees, is of great concern,” he said.
“A review should be conducted into the issue and recommendations brought forward to prevent this from occurring in the future.”
Last month Helen McEntee, the minister for justice, said the new EU Migration Pact, which allows for an overhaul of the European asylum system, was a “game-changer” for Ireland, allowing faster processing of applicants and making it easier to “remove” those who do not have a right to remain.
The European Parliament recently approved the new policy to harden the bloc’s borders after years of deadlock.
Separately, The Sunday Times has discovered that when asylum seekers are fingerprinted in Ireland, the prints are not checked against criminal records databases in other countries.
IPO staff take the prints and check them against a system called Eurodac, an EU database that stores the fingerprints of international protection applicants or people who have crossed a border illegally. It is used by EU countries and Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Another senior immigration source said: “Eurodac is not a criminal records database. An applicant might have a conviction for terror offences in say, France, but that won’t show up when we run his or her prints through Eurodac. It just shows if they have applied for asylum in another country before they arrived here.
“Plus someone can have applied for asylum in a number of countries before they try here — and we have to treat them as a brand new case. It’s ridiculous.”
In December Roderic O’Gorman, the integration minister, said: “When an international protection applicant arrives in the country, they’re fingerprinted. Their fingerprints go through two databases. One to see if they’ve been involved with immigration authorities in any other EU member state and the other to see if they’ve been involved in criminality in any other member state.”
The second database is the Schengen Information System (SIS). While it shares alerts about outstanding arrest warrants, it does not hold someone’s criminal history.
IPO staff say more and more applicants are turning up at their offices, not just because of the British policy to send illegal refugees to Rwanda, but also because there are only eight countries on Ireland’s IPO safe list.
One source said: “In Holland, for example, there are around 20 countries deemed safe for refugees, so applicants from these countries won’t try for asylum there. But we only have eight, so more and more people from countries not our our list are coming here.”
In recent weeks Operation Sonnet, run by the GNIB and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), have upped checks on the Belfast to Dublin road in an attempt to prevent those without valid documents from entering the country.
About 50 have been sent back, but sources said a number simply got on other buses or tried another route and came across again. It is believed that only two of the 50 may have been caught a second time.
GNIB officers have observed Northern Ireland-registered taxis dropping car-loads of people near the IPO on Mount Street. Gardai and the PSNI are liaising to see if the taxi drivers can be arrested for facilitating the illegal entry of refugees into the country.
One source said: “We send them back, but what’s to stop them coming down the next day? The same thing is happening at ferry ports.”
A spokesman from the Department of Justice said: “When it comes to international protection applicants, each person that enters the process is fingerprinted and photographed. These fingerprints are checked against Eurodac, an EU database which stores the fingerprints of asylum applicants and those who have crossed borders illegally.
“In addition to checks specifically on those applying for international protection, each and every person arriving at a port of entry in the state is subject to Schengen Information System (SIS) check. SIS enables immigration officers and An Garda Síochána to further improve the safety and security of the public with access to the most widely used and largest information sharing system for security and border management in Europe. Ireland sends and receives SIS information on persons and objects; for example, persons wanted for criminal purposes, missing persons and objects which have been stolen or are wanted as evidence for a judicial purpose.
“Criminal convictions are considered when processing an international protection application, as part of this, character and conduct checks are carried out before applicants can be granted any permission to remain in the state. An Garda Síochána notify the department of matters which may be relevant to its considerations.”
There are currently 22,382 International Protection applications awaiting a decision from the IPO.
There were 13,645 applications lodged in 2022, 13,272 lodged in 2023 and 9,126 lodged in 2024 up to May 30.
Meanwhile, a new camp of migrant tents has been set up in Ballsbridge, south Dublin, after the last gathering along the Grand Canal was dismantled on Thursday.
Convicted rapists in an Irish prison are applying for asylum to avoid deportation at the end of their sentences, a Sunday Times investigation has revealed.
In at least two cases, criminals walked free after their release despite efforts to deport them. The Sunday Times understands that in both cases, the men, from Albania and Pakistan, told gardai that they would be applying for asylum in Ireland.
One senior security source described the situation as “utter madness”. The source said: “These are convicted rapists who have attacked women and have gone through our courts and our prison system. This is not what our asylum process is for and they are taking advantage of the system.”
Ireland has become a magnet for those seeking refugee status because the International Protection Office (IPO) in Dublin has only eight countries on its safe list. Some EU countries have several times that.
The Sunday Times has also learnt that some migrants who cross the border from Northern Ireland and are sent back by garda immigration officers simply get another bus or taxi to Dublin. Sources say the situation is similar at ferry ports.
The first of the two convicts, a 51-year-old from Albania, recently completed a six-year sentence for raping a woman in 2017. The man has lived in Ireland for more than 20 years and was due to be deported in February.
It is understood he applied for asylum status in the first two weeks of February, claiming that it was unsafe for him to return to his home country. Albania is listed as a designated safe country of origin.
The second man, a 42-year-old from Pakistan, recently completed a sentence of six and a half years for rape and was due to be deported in April. It is understood he applied for asylum at the end of March. The man has lived in Ireland for more than a decade.
John Lahart, a Fianna Fáil TD in Dublin and a deputy whip, said: “If they were convicted here of rape and sought asylum here I don’t think that’s appropriate. It doesn’t get much serious than being convicted of rape. What I’m really surprised and shocked at is that the system seems to be open to considering their asylum application given their conviction.”
In each case, gardai tried to serve deportation orders before the men’s scheduled release dates, but both said they were applying for asylum. The GNIB officers were forced to notify the governor of the prison who then informed the IPO. The two convicts said they would turn up for an official interview at the IPO on Mount Street.
Both men, who are on the sex offenders register, walked free on their release date and disappeared. The average processing time of asylum applications is approximately 18 months, meaning they are effectively free until then. Gardai could then only serve them with a deportation order if their applications were rejected.
After The Sunday Times alerted the IPO and the Department of Justice to the loophole in mid-April, a GNIB team, under laws allowing them to detain someone if they pose a threat to public safety and security, searched for the men and brought them before a judge.
Both men were jailed, but the Pakistani rapist later obtained a High Court bail and is free pending his claim for asylum. He must sign daily at a Garda station and be of good behaviour.
The Albanian man was detained but released soon afterwards in a suspected blunder by the authorities. After a second manhunt for him, the man said he was withdrawing his asylum application and would return home voluntarily.
GNIB officers accompanied him to Germany and from there he was watched or “shadowed” until he got on a flight to Albania.
One senior immigration officer said yesterday: “Both of these men would be walking about unmonitored had The Sunday Times not alerted authorities to the loophole. As it is, the Albanian eventually went back on his own free will, and the Pakistani rapist only got bail under the strictest of conditions.
“That said, both men made a mockery of the asylum process. Asylum is for genuine cases who are presumed to be at risk of persecution, torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. It’s not to give rapists a free run in our country for 18 months once they’ve been released from jail.”
The Department of Justice said it did not comment on individual cases.
It added that the IPO would examine any claim for international protection “on its own merits” and the “person’s character and conduct”, including any “criminal convictions amassed by the person, can be factored into the decision-making process”.
“The minister may refuse a refugee/subsidiary protection declaration, even if the IPO has recommended that a person is entitled to a refugee declaration, if that person is reasonably considered to be a danger to the security of the state or the community,” the department said.
Gardai said the international protection process was not a matter for the force. “[Sex offenders] are monitored and managed in the community, overseen by an assigned garda liaison,” it said.
Pa Daly, a Sinn Féin TD and the party’s justice spokesman, called for a review into the loophole. “That such individuals would be in a position to apply in such a cynical manner, when they are clearly not bona fide refugees, is of great concern,” he said.
“A review should be conducted into the issue and recommendations brought forward to prevent this from occurring in the future.”
Last month Helen McEntee, the minister for justice, said the new EU Migration Pact, which allows for an overhaul of the European asylum system, was a “game-changer” for Ireland, allowing faster processing of applicants and making it easier to “remove” those who do not have a right to remain.
The European Parliament recently approved the new policy to harden the bloc’s borders after years of deadlock.
Separately, The Sunday Times has discovered that when asylum seekers are fingerprinted in Ireland, the prints are not checked against criminal records databases in other countries.
IPO staff take the prints and check them against a system called Eurodac, an EU database that stores the fingerprints of international protection applicants or people who have crossed a border illegally. It is used by EU countries and Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Another senior immigration source said: “Eurodac is not a criminal records database. An applicant might have a conviction for terror offences in say, France, but that won’t show up when we run his or her prints through Eurodac. It just shows if they have applied for asylum in another country before they arrived here.
“Plus someone can have applied for asylum in a number of countries before they try here — and we have to treat them as a brand new case. It’s ridiculous.”
In December Roderic O’Gorman, the integration minister, said: “When an international protection applicant arrives in the country, they’re fingerprinted. Their fingerprints go through two databases. One to see if they’ve been involved with immigration authorities in any other EU member state and the other to see if they’ve been involved in criminality in any other member state.”
The second database is the Schengen Information System (SIS). While it shares alerts about outstanding arrest warrants, it does not hold someone’s criminal history.
IPO staff say more and more applicants are turning up at their offices, not just because of the British policy to send illegal refugees to Rwanda, but also because there are only eight countries on Ireland’s IPO safe list.
One source said: “In Holland, for example, there are around 20 countries deemed safe for refugees, so applicants from these countries won’t try for asylum there. But we only have eight, so more and more people from countries not our our list are coming here.”
In recent weeks Operation Sonnet, run by the GNIB and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), have upped checks on the Belfast to Dublin road in an attempt to prevent those without valid documents from entering the country.
About 50 have been sent back, but sources said a number simply got on other buses or tried another route and came across again. It is believed that only two of the 50 may have been caught a second time.
GNIB officers have observed Northern Ireland-registered taxis dropping car-loads of people near the IPO on Mount Street. Gardai and the PSNI are liaising to see if the taxi drivers can be arrested for facilitating the illegal entry of refugees into the country.
One source said: “We send them back, but what’s to stop them coming down the next day? The same thing is happening at ferry ports.”
A spokesman from the Department of Justice said: “When it comes to international protection applicants, each person that enters the process is fingerprinted and photographed. These fingerprints are checked against Eurodac, an EU database which stores the fingerprints of asylum applicants and those who have crossed borders illegally.
“In addition to checks specifically on those applying for international protection, each and every person arriving at a port of entry in the state is subject to Schengen Information System (SIS) check. SIS enables immigration officers and An Garda Síochána to further improve the safety and security of the public with access to the most widely used and largest information sharing system for security and border management in Europe. Ireland sends and receives SIS information on persons and objects; for example, persons wanted for criminal purposes, missing persons and objects which have been stolen or are wanted as evidence for a judicial purpose.
“Criminal convictions are considered when processing an international protection application, as part of this, character and conduct checks are carried out before applicants can be granted any permission to remain in the state. An Garda Síochána notify the department of matters which may be relevant to its considerations.”
There are currently 22,382 International Protection applications awaiting a decision from the IPO.
There were 13,645 applications lodged in 2022, 13,272 lodged in 2023 and 9,126 lodged in 2024 up to May 30.
Meanwhile, a new camp of migrant tents has been set up in Ballsbridge, south Dublin, after the last gathering along the Grand Canal was dismantled on Thursday.
